If I Only Had a Brain!

Warning, Expert Canners--reading this blog might have you doubled over laughing.

To all other readers: short blog--big lesson! Over five decades of walking with the Lord, serving Him, learning from Him, studying His Word. You'd think I'd know a thing or two, right? And yet, here I am, repeating spiritual kindergarten, for goodness' sake!

In my book The Accidental Missionary there's a chapter on answered prayer. Ministering in a Mexican village, I struggled with Sunday School interruptions until God reminded me that maybe I should pray! How novel! But Slow-to-Learn prayed, and, surprise-surprise, the interruptions ceased. Ha! God does answer prayer! Lesson learned, right? Not.

Here I am, decades later, in my second season of learning how to can, fighting my biggest issue: siphoning. For those of you who are as oblivious to canning terms as I was just two years ago, siphoning is when liquid in the jars escapes Houdini-like during the canning process. The food is still edible, but the jars sure look unprofessional, like a very ignorant person messed with the canning.

There are several factors that can contribute to the dreaded siphoning. First of all, jars must be hot. Then, unless cold-packing, the food must be warm, the liquid added to the jars must be hot, and the cooking pressure should be kept as constant as possible. If any of these variables is off, you can be sure siphoning will occur. Trying to keep that siphoning at bay, I carefully went over my no-siphoning list before each canning session. Warm food--check. Hot jars--check. Hot water to add--check. The only variable I couldn't get a handle on was keeping the canner pressure constant.

Lord have mercy, how I kept my eyes glued on that gauge. I messed with the burner knob like a crazy lady. I lowered it when it get too hot. I raised it when it got too cold. But every single time I canned there was at least one instance (but usually more) when it got away from me. And the jars coming out of the canner showed it. How was I ever going to get that pressure stable? Was it even possible????? Today, in desperation, I (gasp!) actually prayed! And guess what happened. Dear old Dennis came to the rescue.

He stayed with me and showed me a little trick. I shouldn't wait till the pressure gets away from me to begin adjusting. "You need to anticipate what will happen and adjust accordingly, just like checkers," he told me. I don't know about the checkers part, but I got what he was saying. And he stayed with me till I demonstrated that I "got it".

To date, sweet potatoes are the longest vegetable to process we have put our hand to. Ninety long minutes at 11 pounds of pressure. And yet, with Dennis's intervention in answer to prayer, this was the first time ever that the gauge didn't make any big see-sawing back and forth, despite the lengthy canning process. I still kept my little eyes glued to the gauge, but now I knew to be preemptive when I saw it begin to creep one way or the other.

Can you see in the picture how far up the liquid is in the jars? I can't believe it! It looks just like the pictures online, like someone who really knows how to can did it. I will not show pics of my other canned vegetables. To see them you would be quick to note that it is obvious they were the work of a beginner, definitely something I am loathe to show. Revealing to you how dumb I can be about essentials (in this instance, prayer) is humbling enough, thank you very much.

To be fair (I know, excuses, excuses), I did pray before canning. But my focus was kind of tunnel-visioned. Because my super-failing is fear, I was incredibly afraid to commit some glaring boo-boo that would kill someone who ate my canned products. The result? We have eaten some of my canned products, enjoyed them, and (yay!) we are still alive! Unfortunately, my prayers began and ended there. I was so focused on safety that I never thought to ask for help with the siphoning. My, my, my, how quickly we forget.

Grandma hated Auntie's song, "When you've tried everything and everything has failed, try Jesus. He'll be your faithful Friend, He'll be with you till the end. When you've tried everything and everything has failed, try Jesus." It was kind of fun to sing it and see Grandma get all flustered. "What do you mean, when you've tried everything else???? The first thing you should do is try Jesus!!!!"

Point taken, Grandma. I hope this is the last time I revisit spiritual kindergarten101! Bottom line: no matter how "mature" a Christian we are, we need to examine ourselves time and again to make sure our basics are in order. They were, are, and always will be the essential foundation of a blessed life!

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing be prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

"Therefore I say unto you What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24).